Psychologism in logic

some similarities between Boole and Frege

Nicla Vassallo

pp. 311-325

in: James Gasser (ed), A Boole anthology, Berlin, Springer, 2000

Abstract

This paper challenges the common view that Boole is a psychologistic philosopher and Frege an anti-psychologistic one. As there is no single agreed notion of what psychologism in (deductive) logic is, various characterizations given in the literature are employed to show that there are similarities between Boole and Frege whichever account is chosen. The emphasis on similarities is in no way meant to deny that there also exist differences between them; these however are not considered here.

Cited authors

Frege Gottlob

Boole George